Hunger Games: The Victors' Chronicles
by Zulera301
Summary: Over the course of Panem's recent history, there have been dozens of Hunger Games that have come and gone, and no two are ever alike. The victors are different of course, and even similar-looking arenas are never the same. So what happened in these years? Who won, who lost, and why were they remembered? Learn the stories of past victors, and how they did what they did. (slight AU)
1. The 1st Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _There was a small hiatus after I finished one fanfic and started another, where I came up with this idea. It's been brewing in my head for quite some time now,and it will be updated periodically similar to my "74th Hunger Games" fic. This is simply a collection of short stories about the past games. We've heard about Ikki Ortolani winning the 77th Hunger Games, Leto Irizari winning the 35th Hunger Games, Elroy Trujillo winning the 66th Hunger Games, Laurel Fox winning the 25th Hunger Games, or Alice DeSiete winning the 46th Hunger Games, but this fic will go into a little more detail about what went down those years. Obviously these will not be the full length ~40+ chapter sagas that my "Fire Without a Spark" series is, but heck, if a certain chapter/story is well-liked and well-received, I might end up writing the full account of it if popular demand is high enough._  
><em>In the meantime, enjoy learning about nearly 100 victors and their experiences with the 'games. These stories take place in my "Fire Without a Spark" alternate timeline, which means not only will we start to see familiar faces in chapters 91, 92, 93, etc; but we also might see familiar faces in chapters like 75, 74, 65, or 50. Currently, the story of Mags has been posted.<br>Otherwise... Happy Reading!_

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><p><strong>PROLOGUE<strong>

_They say that no one ever wins the Hunger Games. They say that you never truly leave the arena. They say no one decent ever comes out of there alive._

_They are all completely wrong. They have no real understanding of the perils of a victor—the things they have seen and done. They alone have the uncensored and unabridged account of what went on in the arena—for they are the only ones who are still alive to tell the tales. There are only 99 people in all of Panem who have this level of understanding—the realization that this brutal sadism was going on all around them and that they were in the spotlight; the realization that in order for them to be alive today, many others had to die. These individuals are veterans; victors of nearly a century of different Hunger Games._

_These are their stories._

**The 1st Annual Hunger Games**

There was once a time where the Hunger Games were much different than they are now: before mentors, before career tributes, before cornucopia bloodbaths, before elaborate arenas, and before sponsor gifts and more. These were the 1st Annual Hunger Games. This marked the year anniversary of the fall of the rebellion and the utter annihilation of District 13. These were the first reapings. These were the first tributes.

Many of them were chosen as children of some of the more prominent rebellious figures from the war. In districts like '12, '8, '11, and 3, there were plenty to choose from. One thing of particular note was that the ceremonies all remained the same. Events such as the chariot parade, the training (and private) sessions, and tribute interviews were things all set up in advance by the Capitol, and so perhaps other than the awkwardness between kids that might have even known each other before the districts were closed off, as they realized they now had to kill each other, the pre-game events were all still the same.

The actual Hunger Games were a bit different. The arena was very basic that year—mostly just a grassy meadow surrounding the cornucopia (another element of the games that had been there since the beginning) with a few trees or crevices and such to hide in. Tributes had been warned beforehand that waiting 60 seconds before moving was essential, and that "those who chose to disregard this single rule would come to regret it in a way they would never comprehend"

Well, that year a boy from District 4 thought he could jump the gun. He was the first one in Panem to discover that the pedestals were rigged with landmines. Essentially, there was little left of him to be picked up, although his unfortunate neighboring tributes—the girl from District 2 and the girl from District 8—panicked on the spot because they were now splattered with blood. The former of these two freaked out so badly that she nearly lost her balance.

Thus, as the gunshot that signaled the start of the games went off, the Capitol was more surprised than they should have been that the 23 remaining tributes didn't move a muscle. Was this some sort of sick sadistic trap to see who could stand on the pedestal the longest? None of them wanted to end up like that District 4 kid, and so none of them moved for several minutes. There was such an awkward silence that the Gamemakers actually made an announcement.

"Attention tributes: At the conclusion of the 60-second countdown, the mines around the pedestals are deactivated. They are put in place as a safety measure for the sole purpose of preventing tributes from jumping the gun. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Well, even this was not quite enough to sway the wary tributes, until a boy from District 3 took off his boots, tied them together, and dropped them in front of his pedestal. They hit the ground with an awkward thud and there was silence. However, instead of a frantic scramble, the other kids began merely sauntering towards the cornucopia to see what kind of supplies there were there. The District 3 boy did manage to get his boots back on, and wandered over to a set of throwing knives. Not too far away, a girl from District 9 picked up a bow and arrow.

Perhaps jokingly, a large boy from District 10 stood up on a crate of food and brandished a large cleaver.

"If anyone dares try to take this from me I'll kill them!" he joked. The kids had still not fully wrapped their minds around the notion that they were supposed to be killing them. In fact, the girls from Districts 2, 8 and 4 (given that he had been the latter's partner) were still in a bit of shock from the boy's explosive death.

However, even with the playful boasting, one of the other tributes decided to take his challenge to heart. Pulling back the string of the bow, despite being surrounded by curious tributes, that District 9 girl nocked an arrow, and let it fly. Her aim was surprisingly good, and it shot right through the side of the District 10 boy's skull, dropping him instantly.

While they had been informed that the cannons fired only to signify deaths (the first one had been muffled by the landmine explosion), many of the tributes shrieked or jumped when the 2nd cannon fired. Heads turned and almost all eyes were on that District 9 girl. Her words rang through the arena with a certain profoundness that no one in Panem ever forgot.

"These games aren't going to end until all but one of us is dead." She warned, "I'm not about to volunteer to kill myself either." A split-second later she broke into a run, disappearing into the trees with a slew of other kids in tow.

The girl from District 10 decided to take out her anger on the boy from District 9, figuring that her partner would be the next best thing to avenge her own partner. However, he managed to nearly overpower her, but before he could land the kill, she dodged, and the boy's knife went right into the gut of a girl from District 6, dropping her instantly. That in turn triggered the wrath of her partner, who killed the boy shortly after he managed to properly kill the girl from District 10.

Thus, the bloodbath was born. Accidents and overreactions turned children that might have otherwise been friends or acquaintances, into enemies out for each other's blood.

By sunset on the first day, 18 tributes were dead in the field, many still clutching their weapons. An oddity that modern Hunger Games enthusiasts might have noticed was that Districts 1 and 2 had lost both of their tributes by this time. District 2 in particular made a special note not to lose kids in a bloodbath, and they started seeing this as an actual competition, given the militaristic side of the district that had recently taken root.

Among the scant survivors were the District 11 pair, who were quite competent at surviving outdoors, as well as the District 12 pair. The only other two tributes that had escaped the mayhem were the District 9 girl from earlier, and a boy from District 5. This boy had developed a sort of hit-and-run style tactic, and so he had been in the bloodbath a bit.

Day 2 ended with the girl from District 12 getting sniped by the girl from '9, and her partner getting taken out by the cunning District 5 boy. Day 3 proved to be the penultimate day of the 1st Annual Hunger Games, where the District 11 pair were surprised attacked by this boy, Fukaya Kerezaki, who took the boy down first and the girl out a moment later.

This in turn, meant the games were drawing to a close. All Fukaya needed to do was hunt down Angela Dento from District 9, and there would be a final showdown.

The 4th and final day of the games was when this happened. She had her bow, and so did he. The two tributes circled each other, firing off arrows when they could, but they were both fast enough that despite being fairly good shots, neither one hit the other for several long minutes. It finally ended after Angela was hit in the foot, which gave Fukaya enough time to shoot her through the chest and finally kill her. The 1st Annual Hunger Games was over. Fukaya Kerezaki was the 1st victor from District 5—and the 1st victor to ever live.

Similar to the pre-game events, the post-game events have not changed in the 98 years since then. He had an interview, and then toured the districts 6 months after the fact. Despite being seen as celebrity in the Capitol, Fukaya was a very changed boy. He was much more reserved, and did not ever speak of the events in the meadow. Any time someone even so much as tossed something his way, he would sidestep it and shudder. He was distrustful of people and suspected that they would want to kill him. Thus, the first Victor's Trauma was born.

As short and simple as they might have been, Fukaya's Hunger Games were still horrifying enough for the boy to emerge as a very changed individual from who he once was. Of course, this was only the beginning—the beginning of something great and terrible that would become known as The Hunger Games.


	2. The 2nd Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _The saga continues, and here we get to catch the first glimpses of what would later become Career Tributes. Remember, if a particular chapt sticks out or you want to hear more about it, there's always a chance that I will be willing to comply._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 2nd Annual Hunger Games<strong>

After the first Hunger Games, people thought that it was all just a bad dream and that this would be a one-time thing. However, the Capitol was far more ruthless than that, and so the year after, the 2nd Annual Hunger Games were born. After their losses in the 1st games, District 2 had put together a small training facility for kids to hone their skills and potentially do better at the games. This was technically illegal, but District 2 was responsible for producing nearly half of Panem's Peacekeeping force, and so another nondescript training facility was not noticed at first, nor really paid much attention to.

However, it was a hallmark for the 'games. These were the very first "career tributes".

The arena was slightly more creative this year. Instead of a mundane meadow, the arena was rather forested, which put some of the rural districts dealing with trees, such as '7 and '11, at an advantage. That did not deter District 2's Randy Ferris however, and he proved his ferocity in the training center before the games. He started mustering allies, saying that they would pick off the weaker tributes first and then have a showdown of strength.

Back then, the career alliance was far less organized than it was this year, and instead of recruiting District 1, Randy recruited his partner, as well as a boy from District 7 and a girl from District 10. They had thus formed the first career alliance.

Some of the kids were still a bit dazzled and shocked by the very notion of the Hunger Games, and a few were even wary of the incident last year where the guy had blown himself to bits by trying to jump the gun. However, this time as the opening gunshot fired, the four "career tributes" raced for the weapons, which in turn sparked the others to start running. Others were fixed on defending themselves, such as the pair from District 5. Fukaya, the victor of last year's games, had also become the first mentor, and so he was able to give District 5's tributes a few tips and tricks that they could potentially expect to see in the games.

The pair from District 2 managed to survive the defenses, but their allies from Districts 10 and 7 were not so fortunate. However, District 5's chance at producing a victor was also exterminated on that first day, as was the chance of a victor from Districts 10, 3, 4, and 9.

This year, only 14 tributes died in this opening bloodbath, which meant that the games would likely last a little longer than the ones the year before. The thick forests surrounding the cornucopia would serve as crucial hiding places for some of the more clever tributes, and so it quickly became a game of hide-n-seek, with the weaker tributes hiding from the stronger ones.

However, Randy Ferris and his partner were unfazed, and went on the prowl. Despite this, they were not the only ones hunting. District 11's Lucy Takamatzu swung through the trees, managing to outdo the girl from '7 in this regard, killing her on Day 2.

The remainder of the games was a slow but intriguing game of elimination as the remaining tributes tried to outsmart each other. Randy was not only strong, but he was also smart, despite being slightly out of his element in these woods. Gradually, the others were eliminated until it was just him and the elusive but deadly Lucy Takamatzu from District 11. Well, he was fairly confident that he, a trained fighter, would be able to stomp a kid from a poor and starving district. His disadvantage came from the fact that she was very familiar with these trees, and with being able to survive without food.

In fine, poor Randy never even saw it coming. During the 6th and final night of the games, Lucy dropped from a tree, bludgeoning Randy's skull in with a warhammer, and then rolling into a crouched position as if poisoning to attack again. However, she was announced as the victor, having outlived 23 other tributes, as the rules dictated. Lucy Takamatzu was the 1st victor from District 11—and the 2nd victor of the Hunger Games.

Despite being so calm and collected in the 'games, Lucy was uneasy around trees after that. She'd always be looking up whenever she wandered through the orchards, as if she was worried that someone would drop on top of her the way she had done to that boy. No one else really understood her logic here, and she never bothered to explain. No one but Fukaya of District 5 knew what she had been through, and thus, the next time they met in the Capitol as mentors, they swiftly began friends.

And so began the trend of "Victor Culture". It was the closest thing to District Unity that the districts of Panem ever achieved, since these victors were the only ones who ever got to see all 12 districts other than some Capitol officials. However, while Lucy and Fukaya had done their time, they were aware that there would be many others who followed in their footsteps…


	3. The 3rd Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _With each passing games, the Capitol learns what it should and should not do in order to provide a great show. In some cases, it's just a matter of mixing things up, which is why they've realized that changing the arena designs might be a good idea. _  
><em>Happy reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 3rd Annual Hunger Games<strong>

More organization began to take form by the time the 3rd Annual Hunger Games rolled around. By this point, District 1 had taken after the example of its similarly wealthy neighbor, District 2, and they had a small training academy to attempt to produce more competent tributes. Thus, the career tribute pool expanded from just District 2 to Districts 1 and 2. The strategies and tricks that modern careers know had not yet been defined, but the foundations had been laid, and this element of Hunger Games culture was rooting itself in rather firmly. "Career Tributes" were almost certainly here to stay.

The Hunger Games were still far too new for other tributes to really consider them much more of a threat than any other strong tribute or alliance however. If there was anyone that could serve as a thorn in District 1 or 2's side, it was District 12 and District 11, with their cunning survival skills, and the latter having already produced a victor, who could then mentor her tributes for years to come and try to give them tricks and strategies to help them survive for even longer.

But also, there was District 3 to worry about. What they lacked in physical prowess, they made up for in smarts and cunning. The last couple of years, they had not fared so well, but the pair this year seemed particularly promising, if their high training scores and skills at trap-building were anything to go by…

Deciding to part from the tree theme this year, the Gamemakers created a desert-esque arena with small canyons and dry riverbeds. The 12 tributes that survived the bloodbath started to be a bit skeptical about water and where it would come from, since there was no sign of it as they searched far and wide. The first night ended eventlessly, although deep into the darkness of the night, clouds gathered, and rain happened. This was a nice reprieve from the dryness of the morning, and so every tribute filled whatever container they had with this glorious water. They soon caught on that this happened every day. The morning and afternoon would be hot and dry, and the nights would be cool and wet, with monsoonal rains that nearly made the riverbeds into actual rivers again.

However, after a couple days of Hunger Games hide and seek, the Gamemakers twisted things up again. On the 5th night, the rains were torrential, and they flooded the canyons and riverbeds fully. Nearly half a dozen tributes that had set up camp at the bottom of those riverbeds and canyons were wiped out by the torrential floodwaters that congregated there. The survivors were one of the kids from District 11, the four "career tributes", who had all teamed up together and killed most of the tributes themselves, and the District 3 pair, who were elusively hiding in the arena somewhere.

Tallulah Wiley and Naseru Litzak had situated themselves in one of the larger "canyons", with an elaborate contraption set in place almost like a dam. The rains at night were so heavy that it began filling the area behind their "dam" like a lake. It was only a matter before it broke. Naseru and Tallulah had the high ground.

The next couple of days passed, before three cannons were fired: The girl from District 11 had died, taking two of the careers with her. It just left Lucius Dexter from District 1, and the girl from District 2. Naseru and Tallulah felt pretty confident that if they camped out at their trap, that they would be able to stop the careers once they wandered in.

They were only half right. Lucius served as a distraction just long enough to get District 3's attention, while that District 2 girl knifed Tallulah where she sat. Her body plunged into the canyon, and it was in this moment that Naseru knew what had to be done. Spinning around, he threw his partner's killer in with her, to Lucius' surprise, and then he unleashed the river on them. He shot a rock at just the right place, causing the wall to fall apart and unleashing a wall of water on the remaining two career tributes, and thus ending the games. There was a moment where he gazed down at what he had done, a bit shaken that he had just ended their lives so swiftly. Either way, Naseru Litzak had become the 1st victor from District 3—and the 3rd victor of the Hunger Games.

Naseru was always wary of water after that. Even when it rained in the district, he would retreat inside his Victor's Mansion and watch it from the windows of the upper floor, as if fearing that there would be a flash flood or something. He did not retreat and become a hermit, but he was still a slightly elusive fellow. He had occasional nightmare about his friends or family getting shot from the balcony of his house and falling into torrential rivers below, only to wake up in a cold sweat as he realized it was just a dream. The Games had certainly taken their toll on him just as well…


	4. The 4th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _And now District 1 joins '2 as one of the "career districts". Fun fact: This was the first year where these two districts did not even have a reaping, and thus had Hunger Games culture engrained itself in Panem._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 4th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

By the time the 4th Annual Hunger Games had rolled around, Districts 1 and 2 had become solid in their trend as "career districts", and so this year, the Capitol officials took their chances and did not even host the lottery in either of these districts. This seemed to have been an effective decision, for there were handfuls of kids in both districts that wanted to volunteer. To prevent some of the mayhem that had happened last year, they still organized the kids by gender, and then, starting with the ladies, they made it a race to the stage. The winner would get to serve as their districts tribute representative in the Hunger Games that year.

The boy that year from District 2 was an upright young man who had been working to become a Peacekeeper, and if he had not succeeded in making it to the stage, he would have been ready to take the 20-year commitment that the task required. However, this Tom Sebastian fellow did manage to make it to the stage that year, serving as District 2's male tribute for the 4th Annual Hunger Games.

His partner was already waiting for him at the stage, since the female tribute was still chosen first. This Naisha Szasz was from one of the more "exotic" families of District 2, but that didn't make her any less of a threat. In fact, she and Tom managed to start coordinating together early, and as soon as they got to the training center, they teamed up with District 1 to start planning further tactics. Their District Pride was further motivating them to make sure that they didn't keep getting beaten out by Districts like 5, 11, or 3 anymore. This year, there would almost certainly be a "career victory".

On the other hand, these claims didn't really faze Districts 5 or 11 too much, and so the career pack made their first enemies that day. District 3 was also out doing their own thing, and they were easily overlooked as they worked quietly in the trap station.

Also of particular note that year was an 18-year-old District 9 boy who was already an alcoholic. It made sense in theory, since grain could be used and processed into beer, but he was also an aggressive sunuvagun that the others painted a target on right away.

When the games actually began though, he proved that despite going through some crazy withdrawals and possibly even a hangover from the night before, this Benny McLeon managed to not just survive the bloodbath, but off a couple of tributes in the process with a gigantic club he had found. This was totally his kind of arena though, as it was a large field of wheat and grass—almost as if they had quartered off a sector of District 9 to create this arena.

Either way, the remaining tributes decided that this guy was too much of a menace to be allowed to live, and so for a moment, a Hunger Games rarity occurred. Districts 5 and 11 came forward and approached Districts 1 and 2, offering a temporary truce until Benny was eliminated. Naisha and the others agreed to this, and so they went on a hunt for this rogue tribute.

A fight commenced, where Benny managed to take out the girl from District 1 and the boy from District 5, before he was finally offed by Naisha from District 2. There was a brief celebration, before the remaining kids from '5 and '11 turned on the career pack, killing Tom in the process. Angered, and not willing to let the cheap shot go unpunished, Naisha and the boy from District 1 gave chase, where the latter offed one of the kids (the boy) from '11, and Naisha offed his partner and the girl from '5. However, moments after their victory, that District 1 boy walked right into a trap that had been rigged up by District 3, killing him immediately. When they sprung out, however, Naisha managed to do them in fairly quickly, leaving only a few tributes alive.

This whole series of events was later called "the 6th Day Massacre", given that it had happened on day 6 of the games. 9 tributes had died in the opening bloodbath, and another 10 had died during that massacre. Two other tributes had died between these two bloodbaths, and so there were now only three tributes remaining: Naisha, a boy from District 8 who had hidden the entire time, and a girl from District 4. Perhaps luckily for Naisha, that boy and that girl found each other first, and the girl's face appeared in the sky. Naisha stumbled across him later that same evening, and finished him off, becoming the 1st victor from District 2, and the 4th Victor of the games overall.

She paid her price just like all the rest did though. She wasn't able to eat bread or grain for a long time, and even seeing wheat stalks made her uncomfortable. The traps from the mischievous District 3 pair had taken their toll on her, and the swift betrayal from districts 11 and 5 had kept her on edge with trusting people. Either way, she had fulfilled her promise—she had given Panem its first "Career victor".


	5. The 5th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _I imagine that the games became more varied and colorful as time went on, with the Capitol learning from experience each time-learning what was a good show and what wasn't. At this point, they are branching out on the types of arenas, and sooner or later they'll become more creative with traps, mutts, or other hazards to make the tributes do a bit of thinking instead of just fighting or running._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 5th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

Another developing trend in the games were the concept of "Sister Districts", which had almost solidified by the time of the 5th Annual Hunger Games. The twelve districts of Panem began to sort of pair off, with pairs of similar-minded districts starting to look to each other for potential allies. District 1 and District 2 were the most prominent of these, followed by District 11 and District 12. In between them, District 3 and District 5 often paired up, as did District 4 and District 7, District 6 and District 8, and District 10 and District 9.

District 1's Jade Prima and Astra Sentak, however, did not care about all that fancy talk. Their 'sister district' had produced a victor last year, and so now they felt it was their turn. Thus, when Reaping Day came, they fought their fellow district members to the stage, with Astra even knocking two other girls out on her way there. This aggressive behavior continued into the training center, where they managed to intimidate several tributes, including almost all of the kids from Districts 9-12. However, District 11 was unfazed, perhaps from having an intelligent mentor to help give them tricks and tips on how to stay alive. They were wary of these bloodthirsty careers, and were more worried about them than about District 2 even. However, time would tell how dangerous or not they were.

District 4 was fairly excited about this year's arena, for even their faces lit up as they saw it unfold in front of them—it seemed to be a tropical island of some sort. The tributes and the cornucopia were surrounded by dense foliage, but the sound of seagulls could be heard overhead, and the distant noise of waves lapping against the beach could be heard.

The boy, Spike, was particularly stoked. Being from District 4, he was a natural swimmer, and beachfront terrain was his native element. He would be a dangerous fighter for sure.

Naturally, after the countdown, the beautiful beaches were stained with the blood and bodies of boys and girls who had fallen in the cornucopia bloodbath. Spike and his partner teamed up and started hunting down tributes just as the careers did. It almost made Districts 1 and 2 contemplate what District 4 would be like as a 'career' district, but obviously that would have to be something they decided on themselves. It wasn't like tributes from District 2 could go over and build training centers in District 4.

Oddly enough, the weather patterns were different from the other years. Instead of calm mornings and stormy nights, it was the opposite. It poured torrentially during the day, but usually cleared up by the evening, allowing tributes to move around again and cut each other down. Only Spike seemed bold enough to want to traverse the rain—not even his district partner wanted any part of this.

It was only after he wiped out the District 2 pair during the night that this boy finally met his end. Astra intercepted his trident, pivoting around so fast that she impaled the boy on the spot. Spike's partner was still out there, but both of the kids from District 1 knew that she was much less dangerous, and so every night from then to the end of the games, they took the offensive, picking off kids one by one while hardly taking any significant injuries themselves. Soon enough, it was just Jade and Astra—this would mark the first time that a tribute had had to turn on his or her partner. Since the two tributes were the last ones standing, they had to turn on each other. Perhaps there may have been drama of some sort if they were form other districts, but the career mentality was already deeply engrained in them, and so they fought each other through the storm and the rain until Jade overpowered Astra and brought the 5th Annual Hunger Games to an end as he impaled her with a makeshift spear. Shortly after her death, he knelt next to her and simply whispered "I'm sorry…"  
>Jade Prima had become the 1st victor from District 1, and the 5th victor of the Hunger Games.<p>

While he didn't originally make much of the incident, he didn't exactly feel proud of having to kill a girl he had trained with and then fought alongside. He had simply done what he had had to, in order to crawl out of the games as a survivor—nay, a victor.

On the other hand, he had also paid his price. He was wary about making friends, fearing that there might come a time where he would be forced to kill them, even if his sojourn in the Hunger Games was never going to have to be repeated. Sometimes, things shook a victor's mind so harshly that they could not exactly just recover from it. Perhaps Jade was one of those cases…


	6. The 6th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_These first few games start off a little slow until the Capitol starts getting the hang of what they want to do, and perhaps more for the readers, it's slow until we start seeing familiar faces. In that case, I would advise those reading to watch for Chapters 9 and 13, where we will meet Mags and Woof, or perhaps who the mysterious victor of the infamous 1st Quarter Quell was. From there... familiar faces will emerge as the numbers get higher. Not to say that there won't be excitement before then. No, there should be plenty of that.  
>That said... Happy Reading! <em>

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><p><strong>The 6th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

The Capitol decided to try something new for the 6th Annual Hunger Games. Instead of providing any food at the cornucopia, they simply provided weapons and a few supplies. That was one of the near-constants of the Hunger Games that was not likely to change any time soon. There would always be weapons of some kind at the cornucopia, especially now that the bloodbath had become a thing. As entertaining as it might have theoretically been for the Capitol to watch a kid kill another tribute with his or her bare hands, it would get a bit boring if that was the only way kids ever died.

But instead of providing food like in normal conditions (those kids from District 11 and 12 were a wily bunch, and would most likely win), there was a bit of know-how required to stay alive this year. In this jungle environment there lived various Capitol mutts that would tear tributes apart if they were not careful, and plenty of the flora was poisonous as well.

However, it was also heavily forested, which meant that Cedar Hardin from District 7 was going to wreak havoc on the arena. During training, his partner Lisa ended up defecting over to the career pack, which otherwise just consisted of District 1 and District 2: Thus, the career pack that year were Susan and Peter from District 1, Flax from District 7, and Lucy and Aaron from District 2. They were all fairly confident that they would be the dominating force in the arena, and the five of them did end up scoring highest in training once all was said and done.

Cedar scored high, but maybe that was all show and no go, for once the games began, he beelined away from the cornucopia and into the jungle without second thought. Clearly he was the type to flee rather than fight. It did not stop the careers though, and so they went on a rampage through the arena, starting the trend of the careers not just teaming up, but of them going after the weaker tributes first before turning on themselves for last.

However, that did not go as planned. About 6 days in, they woke up to find Flax with an axe through her chest, without a sign of who had done it. Those in the Capitol knew who it was and found it intriguing that he would go for his own partner first.

Aaron, Lucy, Susan, and Peter were not deterred though. A Rather resilient pair of District 11 tributes gave them a bit of trouble, but they weren't the main concern of the careers—the real concern were the giant monsters that were unleashed and nearly killed them. Aaron suffered an injury before the mutts were stopped, and two more cannons went off that night, probably from the monsters.

However, Aaron had succumbed to his injuries by the next morning, or so the others thought. Lucy was a little more observant than that though, and realized that someone had poisoned his wounds during the night. There was that District 11 girl, that District 7 boy, or one of the kids from District 3, but that didn't seem likely. They began to whittle down the suspects, and soon linked it to Cedar. However, he was not done with the careers either. He purposely lured one of the giant dog mutts towards the career pack's camp, where it stopped following him and aimed for them. Peter and Susan didn't make it out of that mayhem alive. Meanwhile, Cedar, the opportunist that he was, used this chance to lodge an axe into the monster's neck, killing it and thus sparing Lucy for the time being. He did not think that he would be returned the favor.

It was day 9 before Lucy and Cedar met again, this time as final rivals, with all 22 of the other tributes dead. It became a battle of axes, for Lucy's weapon of choice was an axe. She was fairly certain that she could become the 2nd Lucy to win a Hunger Games (the other being District 11's Lucy Takamatzu from the 2nd Hunger Games), while Cedar was aiming to give District 7 a victor for the first time. Their axes collided, both tributes showing great strength as they not only battled each other, but also as they battled through the jungle, avoiding poisonous traps and obstacles that could cause them to lose their footing. It came down to the wire, but then Cedar suddenly threw his axe with such vicious force that Lucy actually braced herself to block—but instead of hitting her, it struck the branch above her, which in turn came and crushed her before she could react. Just as suddenly as it had happened, the games had ended. Cedar was the 1st victor from District 7, and the 6th Victor of the Hunger Games.

He lived a fairly solitary life afterwards, not exactly trusting many people given that he had turned around and backstabbed the same people that had tried to backstab him, but in his eyes, that was simply justice. "Eye for an eye" was one of Cedar's lifestyles and ways of thinking, thanks to the 'games.


	7. The 7th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _We finally catch our glimpse of another trend that developed a little later into the early games-sponsor gifts. We'll surely see many more of these as the games progress, but these really early games are still a bit different, since all of the tributes in them were old enough to be alive before the 'games. In the meantime, we also meet our first wild tribute, a trend that will definitely only get more prominent as the games go on._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 7th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

Seven years into the games, and half of the districts now had a victor. It was only a matter of time before one of them produced another victor. It was theoretically a 50-50 chance, except that some districts had stronger tributes than others, and Districts like 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11—which usually produced some of the most proficient tributes, had also produced victors in the last 6 Hunger Games. Now the 7th Annual Hunger Games was upon them, and the districts were all vying to produce a victor.

Naturally, with Districts 1 and 2 training their tributes, they expected another easy win sooner or later. They might not have been able to win every year, but they could keep the space between victories as small as possible.

District 1 produced powerful tributes by the name of Marco Wainright and the oddly named Fame DeLaRosa, while District 2 produced a volunteer boy named Alvin, and a rather aggressive looking girl named Emily, who, in the training center, quickly got nicknamed 'Scar' for a rather wicked marking spanning across her left eye.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this girl scored a 12, becoming the first person to ever do so. The tributes were improving their skills, but even the careers usually mostly just scored 9s or 10s, with only one or two 11s recorded so far in the first 6 'games.

The bloodbath was mostly Scar (Emily) massacring the other tributes, including the kids from District 3 and District 4, whom the others had suspected might be decent ally material otherwise. But, just like the games and the tributes were changing, so were the arenas. This year would be different.

It was a colder climate this year, much like a tundra. The cornucopia of course, was littered with supplies and things that the tributes might use to keep themselves, warm, and so even the resilient kids from District 11 and District 9 had trouble this year, since they were used to living in warm enough temperatures to allow plants and crops to grow.

One tribute that did give the career pack some trouble this year though was a certain Susan Jackman from District 5. Somehow, she had managed to construct a device that she attached to her back that kept her warm, and so she was able to breeze through the snowy landscape with relative ease, not worrying much about the cold.

She waited it out, which became problematic for the careers. Their cornucopia supplies were dwindling, and so were the number of other tributes they had left to kill. Perhaps out of boredom or bloodlust or whatever else, Scar turned on her companions, tearing Marco apart before the others could react. They managed to injure her somewhat, but she had managed to kill off her own partner and then finish off Fame, before gathering what was left of the warm supplies and trudging out into the desolate tundra to scout out the remaining two tributes, of which Susan was one.

Incidentally, it was Susan's partner who was the remaining tribute, which put the odds of District 5 producing another victor still fairly high in the air. However, he had the misfortune of being Emily's first target instead of Susan, and so he was viciously killed and his supplies taken—which included an odd heating device that was clearly not made in the arena. This had been the first sponsor gift. Capitol citizens could bet on the tributes, and also invest in them. If a certain tribute appealed to the masses, Capitol citizens (and even mentors, to an extent) could purchase "gifts" to send to the tributes to try and tilt the odds in their favor. Such had been what had happened to that District 5 boy, even if he had not made it to the victor's throne.

However, it also meant that Emily was now very warm, and so she managed to recover as she hunted Susan—who was also hunting the scar-faced girl down.

However, Susan was cleverer than she looked. Not only had she built a heating device that had kept her alive and warm so far, but she had also managed to construct some sort of electrical contraption that she had weaponized. Thus, when the encounter with Emily finally came on Day 10, Susan struck quickly, and finally brought the vicious girl down in a blaze of glory, ending the games, with nothing more than a cut on her left eye to signify her fight. Susan had become the 2nd victor from District 5, and the 7th Victor of the Hunger Games.

Susan never underestimated the power and use of a warm outfit after that, although she was also never terribly fond of autumn or winter after her games, even the milder ones that District 5 often got. She never forgot about Emily either—she kept that scar on her eye as a reminder of the games—and how she believed they should never be forgotten…


	8. The 8th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _I imagine that some years the Capitol leaves plenty of building materials in the arena with which the tributes can work and sometimes create rather interesting contraptions. This is one of those times. Also, sponsor gifts remain a thing, and betting on the tributes is part of Hunger Games culture now. Crazy tributes will start becoming more and more common._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 8th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

With all of these rural and outdoor environments, tributes from some of the urban districts such as 6, 8, or even 3 started to feel like they were at something of a disadvantage here. Perhaps they were. Advantages and disadvantages were very real things, which was why tributes from more survival-oriented districts seemed to be doing fairly well.

But the 8th Annual Hunger Games was going to be something different. The arena was located on a large, mountainlike plateau, and was chock-full of old, overgrown ruins. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them was that this year there was plenty of building materials lying around as well. Despite the clearly man-made ruins, the place still didn't seem terribly urban, and so as the tributes rose from their pedestals, even Districts 11 and 12 looked ready to go.

The boy from District 12 that year, Corey Deal, seemed to be a promising candidate for the victor's crown. Coming from a hardworking mining family, he proved that using a pickaxe could translate fairly well into using an actual axe—which he demonstrated on a District 10 boy in the bloodbath.

Similar to other recent years, the career pack from Districts 1 and 2 formed quickly, and tried to seize control of the cornucopia. This year they were led by a fellow named Saul from District 2.

However, Sal, Corey, and their alliances weren't the only threats this year. Lisa Barkley from District 5 and Robin Titania from District 11 were a formidable force that year, and would be a reminder that the female tributes shouldn't be counted out just yet.

While the career pack navigated through the ruins to hunt down the other tributes, a District 6 boy named Malcolm Reed found himself a remote corner of the arena lodged between some of the still-standing ruins, and essentially anchored himself down there and got to work building something. Lisa had the same mindset (albeit in a different part of the arena), and started constructing an elaborate little weapon using cornucopia supplies and building materials found in the arena.

She helped ensure that the trend of sponsoring tributes would continue, for some of the citizens from her district ended up sponsoring her certain electrical parts for the device she was building. There was a popular rumor starting to buzz around the Capitol that District 5 would be one of the most successful districts in the Hunger Games. So far they were right—2 of the 7 victors were from there, while 6 districts had still never won.

Soon, the careers had gone from being the hunters to being the hunted. Lisa ended up nearly backstabbing Robin by 'testing' the device on her. It stunned her, which proved to Lisa that it worked. She was merciful, however, before she turned up the power and went on the prowl. Lisa began hunting down the career pack with her newly made electrical weapon. The Capitol found this gizmo rather interesting, and so more sponsor gifts started flowing.

They also began flowing to Malcolm in his little corner of the arena, where he seemed to be putting together a rather elaborate trap. Luckily for him, Saul's group was too busy being chased down by Lisa, and so he was left alone for the most part.

Halfway through the 2nd week (about Day 9 or 10), Lisa had finally killed Saul, as well as his allies. Just when she thought it was safe to rest though, Robin came out of nowhere, landing on top of her with a handaxe that went through the District 5 girl's skull. She smirked, muttering something about karma and backstabbing, before lifting up Lisa's weapon and going on the prowl herself.

She nearly walked into Malcolm's trap before she realized that it was there. Firing Lisa's electrical weapon, she set off the trap nearly like a bomb, which essentially blew the ruins apart, and Malcolm with it. The boy landed only a few meters away from Robin, a large metal shield in his hands. Robin continued shooting and trying to attack him, but the injured boy seemed to be using his shield to absorb the electricity. How he was grounding it was anyone's guess.

The finish was almost anticlimactic by contrast, however. Robin fired the weapon one last time, right as Malcolm hurled his shield almost like a Frisbee.

The result was Malcolm on all fours, barely avoiding the attack, and Robin on her back with a metal shield sticking out of her chest. The final cannon rang out, signaling the end of the games. Malcolm was the 1st victor from District 6, and the 8th Victor of the Hunger Games.

Malcolm always took extra special caution whenever there was a lightning storm, and even after his victory, he enjoyed being alone in his little corner, building things just as he had been in the arena. He was definitely an introvert—much more so than before, but luckily, he appeared to be one of the stabler victors… for the time being…


	9. The 9th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _Enter Mags Cohen, the first canon character to appear in this fanfic series. Obviously we don't know much of what happened that year, but we know that she lived off of nuts and could make fishhooks out of anything. With those little thoughts in mind, here is how I imagined her games to have played out. It's a little longer than the usual chapters, given that it was particularly fun to write. Also... our first actual dialogue snippets!_  
><em>But I've rambled enough. Obviously we all know who's going to win this one given the name that appears, but still... Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 9th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

More and more victors were emerging from different districts, and so it was only a matter of time before another district gained another victor, apart from District 5. While District 1 and District 2 continued to perform fairly well and kept consistently posing a threat, District 3 and District 5 were also proving to be dangerous, through their wit and cunning.

On the other hand, another rising star by the time of the 9th Annual Hunger Games was District 4. With an increase of fishing practices, the tributes that year proved to be wickedly adept with spears and harpoons, to the point where the career tributes from Districts 1 and 2 offered both Argus McCoy and Mags Cohen positions in the career alliance that year. Both of them graciously accepted, having proven that they were strong, smart, and physically fit.

The arena this year was another desert-style locale, and so water was scarce. The careers anticipated that District 4 would not last long being so out of their element, but that was where they were fortunately wrong. In fact, they managed to wreak havoc in the bloodbath themselves.

The tributes from Districts 8, 9, 10, and 12 lost their lives in the bloodbath, as did the girl from '7 and the boy from '11. They soon perished as well, as did District 6, although the latter seemed to be more from withdrawals rather than starvation or thirst.

The alliances were precarious this year. On one hand, Mags and Argus both knew that this years' career leader, Romulus Bartok from District 1, was going to try and backstab District 4 before backstabbing District 2, and so they needed a plan. Besides, District 3's Ferra Callen had an alliance of her own, which included her partner Derek, and the tributes from District 5.

The desert landscape provided the tributes with a lot of interesting things, one of them being ample amounts of metal scraps and wooden brambles, some of which produced edible nuts. The District 2 pair (Saitou and Katara), who were somewhat familiar with a desert environment in parts of their district, knew how to handle and consume the ample cacti that flourished in the arena, and Mags even managed to make a rather intricate weapon using brambles, cacti needles, and a few bits of metal. The weapon in question resembled a cat-o'-nine-tails, except at the end of each 'tail' was a massive hook, almost like an oversized fishhook. She kept this tool a secret from the others, and otherwise bided her time with the careers until more tributes were eliminated.

Gradually, they wore down the enemy alliance, eliminating District 5, but District 3 continued to elude them. They seemed to know their way around rocks and brambles fairly well.

On the evening of the 8th day, Argus turned to Mags, since the two of them were on watch duty at the moment, and had a conversation about their situation.

"There are only 8 of us left," he warned, "If those kids from '3 drop, then guess who Romulus'll kick from the pack next?"  
>"So we need to make a run for it," Mags suggested, "since I don't imagine they'd spare us if they saw us trying to break away on our own terms here."<p>

"You wanna do it tonight?" Argus whispered,

"I'm down if you are," Mags stretched her legs and cracked her knuckles, "just keep your weapons close. The danger zone is pretty large for an operation like this."

It would be a risky operation indeed, for Districts 1 and 2 never took kindly to being betrayed until it was just them turning on each other. If they were caught running, surely Romulus or his partner Amber would catch up to them and slaughter them on the spot. If Saitou woke up, they would be knifed in the back by the boy's throwing knives; and if Katara woke up, it'd be an arrow in the skull. It was high-risk, low reward, for sure. Such was the nature of many tricks and stunts in the Hunger Games.

Argus and Mags made a break for it, although in the darkness, one of them crunched on some brambles, which alerted Amber, who was the swift one of the group. She was quickly gaining on them, reaching Argus first and cutting him down. In this moment, Mags spun around, whipping out her spiked, hooked weapon, and lashing it like a whip. The hooks latched onto parts of Amber's face, neck, and shoulder, and she yanked it sharply back towards her, which caused the hooks to tear into the District 1 girl's flesh, including nearly cutting her throat out. She recoiled, and Mags struck with the knife that she had been using for most of the games to finish her off. Two cannons went off, and then three more followed later that morning. Later on Evening 9, Mags watched the faces in the sky, and saw Amber, Argus, Saitou, Katara, and Derek's names show up. That meant it was just her, Ferra, and Romulus left. She wondered who she would meet first.

The wait was longer than she thought. Day 10 was eventless, and Day 11 was similar. Sometime around midnight though, another cannon fired, and so as Day 12 drew to a close, Mags saw, to her surprise, Romulus' face. Somehow Ferra had done him in. Had he died on day 11 or day 12? Mags wasn't sure. It was probably one of those deaths that had toed the line around midnight. Either way, she clutched her cat-o'-nine-tails tighter, and migrated towards the cornucopia. She would bring that District 3 girl to her.

As if to build up for a finale, the rain started, and that was exactly what the just-barely-15-year-old Mags Cohen needed to revitalize herself. She popped the remaining nuts from her bag into her mouth, and cracked her knuckles. She too was fairly certain that this fight would end here.

Sure enough, the girl soon appeared as a silhouette in the rain, before she lunged at Mags, who evaded the attack. They continued blocking and evading for what seemed like hours before Ferra lunged, and Mags struck her with her whip. Ferra cried out, but not before slashing Mag's right arm lengthwise, virtually disabling it on the spot. Megs was not left-handed, and so this changed her playstyle significantly—for the better, no less.

The difference in Mags' behavior proved to be enough to throw Ferra off for just long enough for Mag's whip to wrap around (and lacerate) Ferra's knife-arm, before she yanked it forward and thus pulled her to the ground. Once she was knocked down, Ferra knew her life was over, and Mags helped prove that theory seconds later, and thus ended the games. Mags became the 1st victor from District 4, and the 9th victor of the Hunger Games.

Despite her antics in the arena, Mags remained cool and level-headed, like most of District 4. She continued to share her talent of being able to make fishhooks out of anything, although she would not share the secrets of how she had kept that bramble-whip of hers together. However, even though she practically lived off of them in the arena, she was—and is still to this day—very fond of nuts.


	10. The 10th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _Happy Holidays... since that's where I was. Anyhoo, now we're pretty much back (there might be a sight delay because of New Years, but I digress) and so the stories will continue. Here's a decade-anniversary story for us, and where the Gamemakers learn a few more things-also, some folks might have heard one of the prominent highlights of this game from Katniss before. Maybe; maybe not..._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

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><p><strong>The 10th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

10 years… it had been 10 years since these sadistic Hunger Games had been instigated, and they did not show any signs of slowing down. The Capitol seemed to enjoy each one more than the last, and seemed to have liked the bloody deaths from last years' games. Surely the Gamemakers would continue to think of ways to make more incidents like that of Mags Cohen occur more often.

Perhaps as a throwback to the very first games, the 10th Annual Hunger Games arena was fairly simple in nature, with grassy plains and a few trees dotting the landscape. Cornucopia supplies were also radically different than anything the tributes had ever seen thus far (which might not have said a lot, but there were still 9 other games to look at for reference). Instead of the usual supplies, there was simply a large collection of weird shaped maces and clubs. Despite their cruelty, however, the Capitol was not about to let the tributes starve when there was so many other much more exciting ways to kill them—but it would require a bit of wit and cunning in order to live off the land.

The primary survivors of the bloodbath were the kids from Districts 11 and 12, who had teamed up, utilizing their strength that they had gained form their various lines of work—and the tributes from Districts 1 and 2, being the "career districts", and thus being trained in the art of combat and endurance back in their home districts already. A few other tributes also escaped from the bloodbath, but it was clear who the bets were on as the primary contenders.

However, that night something interesting and unexpected happened. The sun went down as usual, and the dead tributes' faces showed up in the sky (11 had died that morning). The next morning though, the sun didn't rise. The temperature rose slightly as if the sun was shining, but the night sky from the previous evening lingered, as did the accompanying darkness. These would be night games. Perhaps this explained why the arena had so much open space—it was trickier to spot tributes in the dark.

The cornucopia was not a very strategic point this year given that the supplies were just the otherwise useless maces since the tributes had since armed themselves with the best ones, or gotten sponsor gifts by the time day 2 rolled around.

All but one of the careers this year suffered from a bit of hubris and overconfidence, and as the games wore on, it wound up costing them—the tributes from District 2 as well as the girl from District 1 ended up falling by day 5, one by one. The assailants were the tributes from '11 and '12, who were used to the dark: District 11 because of their long hours that extended into the late evening, and District 12 from being deep in the earth mining coal and other metals.

Only Faren Dragmire, the boy from District 1, survived these ambushes, because he managed to keep a level head and remind Panem that not all of District 1 was arrogant or ditzy or full of themselves. Either way, this year was almost an inverse of what normally happened—instead of the career alliance dominating the arena, it was the tributes from Districts 11 and 12 that swept the others from before them, with Faren being one of the only ones to escape their sights. His first proper encounter with this alliance resulted in a club fight between him and the boy from District 12, who he managed to do in with a mace to the head. It was in this moment that Faren took control of the arena, so to speak, and lured the remaining tributes after him. One by one, he eliminated them, first by taking out the boy from District 11, and then the two girls shortly afterwards.

The only other tribute that had escaped '11 and '12's sights was Robert Orion, a boy from District 5, who appeared to have been spending most of the time building an elaborate contraption in the dark. When Faren finally encountered him, he let it loose—it was a prototype lightning machine that shot real electricity at his District 1 enemy. Feren found himself dodging electrical currents, and briefly wondered where they had come from. Perhaps it was from the arena itself. Luckily for him, the currents were easy to predict—because they were very hard to dodge. One nearly grazed his arm, but armed with one of the wickedest-looking maces that the cornucopia had had to offer, he eventually reached Robert and managed to end him and his machine. Feren Dragmire was now the 2nd victor from District 1, and the 10th victor of the Hunger Games.

He became quite the diurnal creature after his games, given that they had been plunged into eternal darkness with only the moon and stars to light the way. Similarly, he had a particular aversion to electricity, although the reason for that was fairly obvious…


	11. The 11th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _After a long hiatus with this story, I finally return. Hopefully the next few chapters aren't too slow-soon we'll venture back into familiar territory, and as the Capitol learns more tricks, the games will get more exciting. Not to say that these games aren't exciting-there is a unique twist that ties the 11th and 12th Hunger Games together that might be interesting to see. But... no spoilers._  
><em>Happy Reading!<em>

**The 11th Annual Hunger Games**

The 11th Annual Hunger Games would be seen as an oddity in the years to come, but at the moment, it was just another unassuming arena with two dozen tributes being forced to kill each other.

Two brothers from District 2, Maius and Iunius Karuha, vied for the position of male tribute for their district that year. The younger of the two, Maius, ended up reaching the stage first, and at 17, his odds of winning were fairly high.

A district away, a certain Dane Zelker was also vying for the throne from District 1. Despite that competition, he and his partner Elissa allied themselves with Maius and his partner Carmen. All of them scored high, although it seemed that the career pack would go unthreatened this year. Swords and axes were the career pack's specialty this year, with Dane and Elissa specializing in the former, and Maius and Carmen specializing in the latter.

They were mostly right regarding their 'invincibility', for there were no other prominent alliances that year, not even from Districts 11 and 12, both of whom seemed to have produced tributes on the smaller and weaker side than usual.

When the bloodbath came, however, all four of them sans the boy from District 11 managed to escape alive and unhurt (the aforementioned boy was injured, but alive), although given the rocky nature of the arena, the career tributes were fairly certain that these outliers would not last long.

Unlike several of the older rocky arenas, this one had plenty of water, and little creeks flowing at the bottom of the steep, cramped canyons and the narrow valleys. The tributes did not suspect that there would be any flooding this time. All of the good stuff and food were in these crevices, while the "overworld" was barren and desolate.

It rained a few times in the arena, particularly during days 3 and 4, and then again on days 7 and 8, but the day/night cycle of the arena seemed otherwise normal, unlike the year before.

By day 9, only Elissa had been killed from the career pack, and there were only three other tributes left: Marty Jimson from District 12, Sagittaria Silverhand from District 6, and Celia Northwood from District 7.

Unlike Maius, however, Carmen and Dane did not have any other siblings vying for a chance at the Hunger Games, and so while the oddity of the 11th Annual Hunger Games was still widely remembered for years afterwards, it was not inherently odd by itself—only when compared to the 12th Annual Hunger Games did it really stick out.

Whatever the case, Maius and Carmen wound up splitting up from Dane to go after Marty—but in truth, they were simply giving the District 1 boy the slip. Later that night, Carmen slipped back the direction they came, and she put an end to the career boy in his sleep. When she met back up with Maius, she found him standing over the corpse of the District 12 boy Marty, which meant that only Sagittaria, Celia, and the District 2 pair remained in the games.

As day 13 continued on, more clouds filled the sky and rain began to fall. It was fairly steady, but Maius and Carmen were now fully convinced that there would be no flooding, given that they were walking at the bottom of one of the narrow canyons, following a stream so that they could hopefully find the remaining two tributes.

They camped by the side of a large lake, which appeared to be where the rivers and streams all led, for the rocky canyons seemed to all be north of them at this point. A shimmer on the opposite coast of the lake was a subtle indicator that the forcefield was nearby, although none of the tributes knew that—to them it almost seemed like a gas of sorts, and so was something to not get too close to.

The final showdown wound up being fairly generic, as most of the games had been. Maius and Carmen had no trouble taking down Celia and Sagittaria, before they turned on each other. Axe clashed against axe as sparks flew from striking steel. However, as time wore on, Maius began to overpower Carmen, before finally cutting her down and being crowned the victor.

Maius was not terribly traumatized like many other victors before him, although he was a bit weirded out after watching the 12th Annual Hunger Games the following year. On the other hand, it did not stop him from relishing his victory—being the 2nd victor from District 2, and the 11th victor of the Hunger Games. To him, the Hunger Games were simply business—he did not revel in his murders like some bloodthirsty tributes might have; he simply did what he had to in order to survive and, by extension, to win. Such a mindset became particularly common in District 2 after his victory, and Maius was more than happy to simply embrace it…


	12. The 12th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _This chapter and its predecessor will seem very familiar. The good news is that no, it's not a sign of my lack of creativity—just a little trick I decided the Gamemakers would do. Subsequent chapters will not repeat any zany trends or anything like this either. This is a unique twist that merely binds the 11th and 12th Annual Hunger Games together in an unusual way.  
>Happy Reading!<br>_

**The 12th Annual Hunger Games**

The 12th Annual Hunger Games was the reason that the previous year's games were seen as an oddity—and by extension, the opposite rang true as well.

Maius Karuha had won the crown for District 2 the previous year. This year, however, his older brother Iunius, now 18, managed to make it to the tribute stage. His skills were similar to those of his twin brother, and so he knew that his odds were similarly very high.

However, also similar to last year, an ambitious boy named Gabriel from District 1 was eyeing the crown with fervor, and his partner Azalea with right up there as well.

With his twin brother Maius as a mentor (as well as Naisha Szasz from several years ago), he warned them that District 1 might be trouble, but that it was still fully possible to organize the career pack.

And thus, that was exactly what Iunius Karuha and Junichi Lenford wound up doing. Surprisingly, Azalea and Gabriel agreed to form the pack.

Similar to the previous year, there was no real competition, and given the training scores, it looked like it was going be another career victory once again. Even the nature of the tributes seemed to strike people as odd when compared to the games last year, (including the not-too-powerful looking kids from Districts 11 and 12 that would probably manage to escape the bloodbath) but it was the arena layout that had everyone from tributes to mentors to district citizens intrigued.

The arena layout was almost exactly identical to that of the 11th Annual Hunger Games arena, complete with the rocky landscape, the narrow crevices with the creeks and the otherwise barren "overworld".

A few of the more observant tributes, such as Kylene and Tomas from District 3, decided to check around the place after they escaped the bloodbath unharmed. The stones that had been turned in the previous arena were unturned in this one, which led many to believe that this was not in fact the Capitol reusing the 11th arena like they suspected—but simply that the 12th arena was an exact replica of it.

Taking after the idea of his brother Maius, Iunius did the exact same thing that he did, and took an offensive as they worked to flush out the other tributes.

Even the rain patterns were the same as the year before, with rain falling during days 3 and 4, stopping for days 5 and 6, and then resuming during days 7 and 8.

This time, however, it was the boy from District 1 that died on day 9 instead of the girl, as Gabriel met his match in the form of Kylene, one of the rogues from District 3.

Unlike the previous year though, this time it was the District 3 pair, as well as Nala, the girl from District 11—that served as the final tributes against the three remaining careers, and it was them this time that made it to the lake where the forcefield was. They still didn't know what it was (Tomas and Kylene had a few theories, but nothing set in stone), but they had secured the vantage point that year for the arena.

Unlike the previous year, the District 2 pair did not backstab their District 1 ally, and instead the trio started formulating a way to take down the kids from District 3, as well as that District 11 girl. 10 days into the games, and they were down to the final six tributes already.

However, despite their best efforts, Nala, Kylene, and Tomas managed to evade the careers for two more days. It was later into Day 13 that they finally managed to engage in combat.

The District 3 pair were devious, and had developed some sort of electrical machines to charge their weaponry, but it proved to not be enough against Junichi and Iunius, who managed to best them. Azalea and Nala were still duking it out in the meantime, and much to the surprise of many, she managed to best the District 1 girl, striking her down with her mace before booking it, knowing she couldn't take them herself. However, instead of pursuing her, the two careers waited—knowing the Gamemakers would force them together again.

Sure enough, the next morning, Nala was forced back to meet Junichi and Iunius, where the former finished her off, only to get stabbed in the back a moment later by her partner.

Like his brother, Iunius admitted that it was simply business that he would rather end quickly. However, several things happened this year: Iunius became the 3rd victor from District 2 and the 12th victor of the Hunger Games, and had simply done what he needed to in order to survive. The weirdest part was how familiar it was to his brother's games. To Panem, the 11th and 12th Annual Hunger Games seemed like one big déjà vu, which is what made both games go down in history as rather strange indeed…


	13. The 13th Annual Hunger Games

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _Fun fact: Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 also have the exact same word count, both in the Author Notes, and in the story content itself. That aside, here's chapter 13. We're almost to Woof's games (17), but in the meantime, here's a bit of what happens when you put a whole ton of mutts into the games. It's a little longer and more exciting this time around._  
><em>Happy reading!<em>

* * *

><p><strong>The 13th Annual Hunger Games<strong>

Unlike the previous two years, the 13th Annual Hunger Games did not seem like it was going to be a rehash of the rocky, rainy arena with the powerful career tributes. Of course, Districts 1 and 2 would still likely provide a threat like they so often did, but there were no more Karuha brothers like there had been during the 12th and 11th years of the games. The fact that a district had won back-to-back games was amazing in and of itself, but that the two victors had been related was equally incredible.

But the antics of the nefarious Gamemakers were only just beginning.

The outer districts were starting to develop a clear disadvantage, with none of the districts beyond District 7 having produced a single victor except for District 11, which seemed to be equipped for strength and survival—something most of the others couldn't boast.

Training scores were just numbers, as many people accepted and acknowledged, but they and the odds that the Capitol gave to each tribute could say a lot about who got sponsored and who didn't. In most cases, tributes were simply sponsored cool weapons or sometimes food or medical supplies, depending on the situation. However, if this year's training scores were anything to go by, it seemed that one of the richer districts would win again. The outer districts such as 10, 11, and 12 merely had average scores that year, while the careers had scored high, even if no one got higher than a 10 that year.

Unlike the last two years, this arena was a rainforest teeming with creatures, many of them deadly, aggressive, poisonous, or some combination of the above. Many of them were Capitol mutts, meaning that this year's tributes would have quite the challenge in this arena.

The first three days only saw 13 tributes die, 11 of which were in the bloodbath, and the other two were on days 2 and 3. Day Four, however, threw a wrench into the system.

First there were swarms of these fiery rodents that wiped out the entire 11-12 alliance that formed over the course of three days, and then right as the tributes thought they would catch a break, a swarm of electrical monkeys came out of nowhere and nearly wiped out the career pack, leaving only District 2's Alder, District 3's Cheren, and District 1's Rosa.

They did manage to destroy the electric monkeys (at least for the time), but they had to fall back and regroup at the cornucopia, where they felt like they would be safe for a while. 8 days in, and then the rain started. Instead of just drizzling, it started to pour. The career pack nestled themselves into the cornucopia in the hopes of waiting out the storm. The mutts that had ravaged many of the tributes had only left a small handful alive, and so even on the 8th day, there were only 8 tributes left. By the end of the day, that number had dropped down to 7 as a cannon went off in the wilderness.

"So who do we have left?" Rosa turned to Alder, who was acting as the leader of the group, as the career pack settled in for the night. The victim that day had been the girl from District 7.

"Well… there's the three of us, and then there's that Skyla girl from District 6, Hilda White from District 10, and then Jeriel and Tiffany from District 5."

"How'd an outlier get so far into games like these?" Cheren raised an eyebrow, "with all these mutts I'm surprised that the games haven't ended already. Besides, didn't her partner die in the bloodbath?"

"Maybe they are trying to draw it out a little," Alder suggested, "can't have the games over too quickly—and this rain isn't going to do anyone any favors."  
>But the rain did not stop—day 9 passed, and so did day 10, where the career pack found themselves face to face with Jeriel and Tiffany, the cunning District 5 pair. Seconds later, Alder, Rosa, and even Cheren found themselves peppered in little darts that pierced through their clothes and skin.<p>

"It's poison!" Cheren exclaimed as Alder nearly clove Jeriel in two, "Get them out!"  
>Rosa followed up by lodging a spear cleanly through Tiffany's abdomen, causing two more cannons to go off on the 10th day. Already, the three of them could feel that tingling sensation in each little pinprick that the District 5 pair's darts had inflicted.<p>

Cheren, being the thinnest of the careers, was the first to die, and despite their best efforts, including sponsored medicine, the poison seemed to still be spreading, and Rosa died quietly on day 11.

Alder held out the longest, lasting into day 12 before the poison finally got him. He wandered madly through the rain, before stumbling into Hilda, who was gutting a snake mutt—which had clearly been poisonous. That explained why the poison was so strong. However, he was in no condition to fight, and so he had left her alone before dying a couple hours later.

The next three days were rather peculiar, because the rain did not stop, and there were only two tributes—Skyla and Hilda—that were left alive. Neither one ran into the other, and both of them seemed particularly skilledat evading each other's traps, and anything the Gamemakers tried to pull. Both of them left trails of dead mutts in their wake, and soon it became clear that if anything, they would die of pneumonia before actually keeling over from each other. It was like a game of chess with two queens scampering around the board, waiting for the other to make a blunder.

And on the 15th day, Skyla did just that. She was injured by a rather vicious bear mutt that spewed a burst of cold air at her. Skyla managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but it froze her right arm almost completely. Since she could not properly amputate it, it simply inhibited Skyla long enough for Hilda to finally come upon her, and do her in, ending the games.

Hilda became the 1st victor from District 10, and the 13th victor of the Hunger Games.

Hilda's victory had come through cunning and a keen knowledge of animals, which had been in abundance that year, despite the rain. It had been Hilda that had allied with the District 5 pair and supplied them with poison, but had only finished building two dartguns by the time Tiffany and Jeriel had wished to strike the career pack. Thus, they had gone in without her, and had paid the price.

Hilda didn't mind the rain despite her games, but she was much less fond of animals after that. However, even much later on, she was still considered one of the more stable victors, despite everything that had happened in the arena…


End file.
